WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:05.200 And we're spending a couple of months working our way through Genesis 1 through 3. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:13.119 So in the beginning of Genesis 1, the text says that in the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:15.199 This was before anything was created. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.039 And so from the very beginning, God's spirit was over all that the world would be. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:23.920 Now that word here for spirit is rua. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:34.560 And rua is this very interesting, great word because God's rua was there, which could also be said God's breath was there. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:39.439 Now on average, you take 16 breaths per minute. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:44.880 So that means per hour you take 960 breaths. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:51.600 That means today you will take 23,000 breaths. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:59.039 That means this year you will take 8.4 million breaths. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:06.959 It means if you live to be 80, you will take 670 million breaths. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:17.920 Now, we should breathe from our stomachs, but when we're distressed, like I am during a sermon, we breathe from our chests. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:22.000 So most of us breathe from our chests most of the time. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:29.840 And that's interesting because we get most of our energy, about 90% of our energy comes from our breath. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:35.760 So it's by no surprise that God's spirit is known as breath. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:44.079 So Genesis 1, the spirit breath is over all that the world will come to be. 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:59.840 And then in Genesis 2, verse 7, we get this: that then the Lord, God, formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathes into his nostrils the breath, the rua of life. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:04.400 So Lord there is spelled capital, if you've noticed that. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:08.560 Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:13.439 And we capitalize it in your Bible because it's special. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:19.039 The Hebrew here is Y H V H. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:28.479 And so some people pronounce that Yahweh, some people pronounce that Yahweh, and then there's some people, some traditions, that don't pronounce it at all. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:37.199 They would say it's too wholly to pronounce, and then some other traditions would even say that you can't pronounce it, that it's unpronounceable. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:44.400 Because it's actually not really a name, but it's breath. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:50.400 It's the closest we can get to spelling breath. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:03:08.560 So is it possible that God breathes life into you and that every breath you will take, all 26,000 today or so, 23,000 today, is you speaking his name. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.360 That you and I can't even speak God's name. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.719 But we breathe it. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:32.719 So Genesis 2, God reached down, and from the dust of the ground, he formed man. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.599 Now the word here for ground is Adama. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:36.800 Okay? 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:41.439 And then he takes the first man and the word for here, for man is Adam. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:43.520 We pronounce it Adam. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:47.840 And so basically, man is named dirt. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.520 From the materials of earth were formed. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.800 Now, we're made alive by God breathing into us. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:57.599 By Rua. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:58.879 We were made alive. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:04.560 So by God's spirit in us is what makes dirt guy alive. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:13.599 So point number one is this you are small, but you are extraordinary. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.399 And this is really great. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:28.240 This is incredible because if you just believe you're dirt guy, if you just believe that, if you just believe you're small, then eventually you could become quite depressed. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:38.079 If you just believe you're small in the world, which is true, and if you just believe you're small before God, which is true, but that's all you believe, that can be quite depressing. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:46.480 But you have this rua in you, you have the Spirit of God that's been breathed in you, created in the image of God, and so you're extraordinary. 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:51.680 Now, if you just believed you were extraordinary, you could end up quite arrogant. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.079 But these two things together are incredible for us. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:06.480 This is such a great place for us of freedom and joy, that you are dirt, but you are rua. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:26.000 And then suddenly in the text, amongst all this incredible creation and proclaiming that things are good all through Genesis 1, like we've talked about, God created this and it is good, and God created this and it is good, and God created this and it is good, and that rhythm is building, it is good, it is good, it is good, and then he creates man, and it's the climax of creation. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:32.399 And then he looks at Adam, he looks at the dirt guy there, and he says, This is not good. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:43.120 The first thing to not be good in the world was not the Dorito's cheesy, crunchy taco at Taco Bell. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:44.800 It was not. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.560 That's the worst thing to ever have been created. 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:54.720 But the first thing to not be good was for us to not be alone. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:05.439 Now, the saddest thing is to be alone eating the Doritos cheesy, crunchy taco, sitting at Taco Bell all by yourself. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:06.480 That's just the saddest. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.680 If you've ever been there, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:11.120 That's the saddest. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:17.360 Point number two is this community was God's heart for us since the beginning. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:18.319 Right? 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:20.160 God existed within community. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.600 We've talked about that, the Trinity, the paracaresis, the dance of love. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:28.639 And then for us, he looks at Adam who's there before he's in perfection, is before sin. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:32.240 He looks at Adam and he says, not good. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.720 We're not at the fullest potential here, we're not quite there yet. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.959 So verse 18, I will make him a helper for him. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:47.920 Now maybe you've heard this, that the helper is like an assistant to Adam. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.319 Like, he couldn't quite get the work done. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:59.839 He needed to delegate some work down the organizational chart to a lesser being, to a, you know, like a helper. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:06.800 But the problem with this is that the text says nothing about Adam not being able to get work done. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:10.879 He seems to have the work under complete control. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:15.120 This seems to be about something else. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.319 And then our clue into what this could possibly be about is the word helper. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:27.199 That is used a number of times throughout the Old Testament, and most often it is used in reference to God. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:33.759 Like the psalmist wrote, we wait in hope of the Lord, for he is our help. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:35.759 So track with me. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.399 The same word helper is used for God. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:42.639 So clearly, this woman is not a lesser being. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:44.720 This is about community. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:50.639 It's not a second human being existing in a lesser value to the first. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:59.519 This is a world of difference if you've been taught in any way that one gender carries holding power over another. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:04.480 John Ortberg is a writer, he's a pastor in the Presbyterian church world. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.959 He says this about this text. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:11.439 Women, let there be no doubt about your worth in God's eyes. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:13.759 You were made in God's image. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:30.959 You were made to rule, not to rule over men, not to be ruled by men, but to rule and work side by side to develop to its fullest potential this magnificent creation God asks us to steward for him. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:34.240 So the story goes on in verse 21. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:36.720 God caused the man to go into a deep sleep, right? 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:39.360 This is how the woman comes to be formed. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:46.159 Because out of the side of Adam, out of the side, God forms a woman. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.879 Now, for many of us familiar with the story, we just read right over that. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:49.919 We think that's no big deal. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:51.200 But why this way? 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:56.240 I mean, why would God create woman this way? 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:58.240 But let me give you an example. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:12.240 In Greek mythology, Athena, she was formed from out of the, out of the, she was the goddess of wisdom, and then she sprang from the forehead of Zeus, the seed of the brain. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.759 So this writing style communicates something. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.519 How somebody came to be formed meant something. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:29.360 And so here you have Eve coming from Adam's side, which communicates women are men's companions and partners in this world. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:34.480 And this is true communally, this is true socially, and this is true in marriage. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:36.799 And this gives us point number three. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:42.159 The position of woman is beside the man, and thus the position of man is beside the woman. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:50.799 So God brings this new being to Adam, and with ecstatic elation, Adam says in verse 23, this, like he's been waiting, he's been waiting. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:52.480 It's almost like he didn't even know. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:56.720 This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:03.120 He's been seeing all these other animals and naming them and naming them and naming them, but none, none have have fit with him. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.159 She shall be called woman. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:06.960 Isha. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:08.720 That's the woman, that's the name for woman. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:14.080 She shall be called Isha because she was taken out of Ish. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.320 She was taken out of man. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:17.679 Now we read right over that. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:21.519 I've read over that a million times, and I've missed that the word for man just switched. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:26.000 It went from Adam dirt to the name Ish. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:32.799 So Adam looks at woman and says, Isha, which means she's so fine. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:34.080 No, it doesn't, it doesn't mean that. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:35.039 She may have been. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:36.799 He was thinking that. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:37.679 He was thinking that. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:39.679 We're going to get to that next week. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:45.200 It meant woman, wife, female. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:52.399 And then he says, Oh, I'm not just a dom. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:55.039 I'm ish. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:02.320 I am man, I am husband, I am champion, I am servant. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:08.879 See, only upon seeing her can he name himself. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:12.080 He can't name himself before he sees her. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.759 And she wouldn't have been able to name herself without seeing him. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:20.399 He understands himself in reaction to seeing her, I'm ish. 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:23.039 But he didn't know it until they were side by side. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:25.679 So this gets us to point number four. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.759 God gives us each other that we might understand ourselves. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:38.399 And yet, in that the scene here, long sentence, and yet the scene here is one of no shame and no division. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:39.200 I'll reread that. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:39.840 Point number four. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:48.000 God gives us each other that we might understand ourselves, and yet the scene here is one of no shame and no division. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.399 It's a powerful thing to be named. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:54.320 You ever gone to a restaurant? 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:55.679 I mean, you know the moment, right? 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:57.759 Like you had a super nice restaurant. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.679 Like it's the restaurant you go to once a year. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:08.480 It's the anniversary restaurant, or it's just the restaurant you go to with your friends, and you have saved up for it, and you're there, and I mean you got your nicest clothes on. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:16.879 I mean, maybe you even clean the car and you valet the car, and you walk in, you know, you are you're it and you're you're feeling it. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.159 This is a great night, big restaurant looking good. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:27.759 And you walk in and you say, you know, Masterson table for, you know, I got a table reserved at 7:30, and she says, you know, no problem. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:30.159 And it's not a restaurant where they hand you a little blinky thing. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:31.679 It's not a blinky thing restaurant. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:32.879 She's just like, yeah, no problem. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:35.679 Just wait over there at the bar and she'll come get you. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.120 That's the kind of restaurant it is. 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:43.120 There's a big difference between blinky, little vibrating thing, and you're with like a crowd of people, versus like, you can wait at the bar. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:48.240 I will be over to get you when your table's ready, and you're over there and you're dressed good, you valeted your car. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:50.799 They didn't park it on the curb because your car's not that nice. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:51.519 That's fine. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.759 You're still a part of the valet, right? 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.840 Just being a part of the system feels good. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.200 We all know what we're talking about. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:12:59.519 Just a part of that process feels good. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:05.440 So you're in there, you're waiting at the bar, having a good time, and she walks up, she says, Mr. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:07.840 Masterson, your table is ready. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:11.840 You have been chosen and named out of this group of people. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:21.840 Now everybody's going to eventually be named out of this group of people, but you feel very important, and you walk into the restaurant with your head so high, walking to your table. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:26.879 You've been named, you've been chosen as you're walking, you see some friends over to the side. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:33.840 And so you stop to say hi to them, and you walk over to them, and you say, and you say, Hey, how are you? 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.720 And they say, Oh, isn't this a great restaurant? 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:38.960 And you say, Yes, yes, it is. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.200 And you're thinking, it is because I've saved up and I've only come here once a year. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:48.240 And then, and then they look at you and they say, Yes, we come here every week. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:53.440 And you don't hear anything else. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:00.399 We come here every week, and all you think is we go to Chick-fil-A every week. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.879 I got a free fry on Thursday, and that was a big moment of my week. 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.720 And you're eating lobster rolls every week. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:09.679 Great. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.679 You walk to your table, but it's a different thing. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.320 It's a different walk the rest of the way, right? 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:17.440 I mean, that Mr. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:22.559 Masterson that got called out, you're walking into that dining room thinking so it's a different walk. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:30.960 You've been renamed all of a sudden by comparison and shame and division and fear. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:35.759 We know the feeling. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:39.360 And none of that exists in Genesis 2. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:51.759 This naming is before sin, it's before shame, it's before comparison, it's before all the all the destruction that can occur within relationships. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:15:02.080 See, here in the heart of God, these people, these two people are accepting names and identity with no shame and no fear. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:04.159 Remember, they're standing there naked. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:07.120 Just in a garden. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:10.639 I'm glad my neighbor doesn't do this, right? 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:16.399 In a garden, naked, no shame, no fear. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:24.480 Who they are in the core of their beings is named and rooted in nothing of shame or fear or comparison. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:30.080 Can you imagine that sort of naming of yourself? 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:33.759 No shame and no division exist. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:39.519 I remember clearly when all three of my girls were born. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:42.799 Fortunately for Christy, it was not all at the same time. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:44.960 Three different times. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:48.720 And I'm standing there, and there's a bunch of people in the room, right? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:53.679 A bunch of people, and you don't know them, and they're a part of this very intimate process here, and they're all in there. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:57.600 And when this happens, this baby shows up into the world. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:03.360 The baby has to do one thing, and everybody is waiting for it. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:06.159 The baby has to receive air. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:23.440 And my mom sat on one side of her and I sat on the other side of her, and we both held her hand for several hours while her breathing just slowed and labored. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:30.000 And then finally, the one last long exhale. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:34.320 Yahweh. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:41.039 The last time she breathed the name of God out of that worn-out body. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:45.840 And then so you go take from nursing to the nursing home. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:55.440 Six hundred and seventy million breaths from God, of God, for God. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:01.120 Six hundred and seventy million Yahvees into the world. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.960 And none of that is possible. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.759 None of that is possible because you are so great on your own. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:15.839 Because we've always been recipients of breath, of identity, of being named. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.519 This has always been our story. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:24.799 This is the story of our beings and the story of our redemption. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:26.559 In God's grace, we have life. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.880 In God's grace, we have redemption. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:32.640 See, remember, the Christ was there in the beginning. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:53.839 The word being spoken, the creative energy of God coming into the world, and then thousands of years later, after a full Old Testament storyline for us to read of people trying to obey God enough to be redeemed, enough to feel like they are right with God and right with themselves, and all of that never being enough. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:04.640 When there's enough history of that for all of us to get it, the Christ incarnates into this world through this person we know as Jesus the Christ. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:22.880 And he lives and he teaches and he loves, and most importantly, he dies on a cross to take all that we are not, all the ways we try to breathe, all sorts of stuff other than God into the world, all the ways we try to name ourselves that are out of shame and fear. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:32.319 And he takes all of that upon himself and he puts on us his righteousness so we know forever we are right with God. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:34.000 We are righteous. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.599 We are his righteous, beloved children. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.039 We're recipients. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:40.960 We've always been recipients. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:46.640 We're recipients of life, recipients of breath, recipients of redemption. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:52.319 You are made whole and righteous not by what you do or what you feel. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:54.480 It's never been that way. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:01.440 You are breathing and you are redeemed by God's movement toward you. 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:12.400 My brothers and sisters, you are wonderfully fragile as dirt, but you are as extraordinary as the very breath of God. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:16.960 May you rest deeply in Jesus who died for you. 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:18.720 Let's pray together. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:33.599 God, thank you that just as we did not cause something for ourselves to be born into this world or for our lungs to work, we do not cause our redemption. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:45.119 And we cannot cause our righteousness before you, and we cannot cause ourselves to feel at peace in this world. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:53.279 May we breathe deeply of your goodness and your grace in the way that you want to name us. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:20:01.279 That in Jesus you name us as your righteous, beloved children. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:03.359 In Christ's name we pray. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:04.240 Amen.